Mugello MotoGP: Vinales on pole ahead of home hero Rossi

After progressing from Q1, Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci threatened to spring a surprise on home soil at Mugello, leading the way into the closing stages with a lap of 1m47.266s.

Vinales, though, was only 0.005 seconds behind Petrucci and, after Honda's Dani Pedrosa grabbed the top spot briefly, the points leader vaulted to the top inside the final two minutes.

His 1m46.575s was not bettered, even as Petrucci improved to a 1m46.714s on his penultimate lap to get within 0.139s.

However, Petrucci’s time was scrapped for exceeding track limits at Borgo San Lorenzo and he fell from second to ninth.

Rossi was the main beneficiary, having been 11th of the 12 riders entering the final 60 seconds of Q2 before turning the 1m46.814s that put him second on the grid.

The Italian is riding nine days after sustaining chest injuries in a motocross training accident and spending a night in hospital, and also fell in the FP4 session that preceded qualifying.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso will start from the front row of the grid for the first time in 2017 in third place alongside the Yamahas.

Five Ducatis were in action in Q2, with test rider and wildcard Michele Pirro qualifying fourth, Jorge Lorenzo seventh and Aspar satellite rider Alvaro Bautista eighth ahead of Petrucci.

Honda pair Pedrosa and Marc Marquez will start fifth and sixth, the latter having improved on his final lap.

Tito Rabat qualified a career-best 10th for Marc VDS Honda, one spot ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco, who joined Petrucci in progressing from Q1.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro crashed at Arrabbiata 2 on his first flying lap, but got back out his second RS-GP for the second half of the session and will start 12th.

Friday pacesetter Cal Crutchlow was the biggest casualty of Q1, contesting the session after falling out of the combined practice top 10 in Saturday morning’s third session.

Crutchlow moved to the top of the times briefly with two minutes remaining, but was then pipped by Zarco and Petrucci, missing out on a Q2 spot by 0.079s.

Zarco’s Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger also spent time in the top two, only to crash at Palagio on his final run.

Folger will line up 15th, one spot ahead of Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone, while Pol Espargaro was the best of the KTMs in 18th.

Q2 results:

Pos.	#	Driver	Bike	Time	Gap
1	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'46.575
2	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'46.814	0.239
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'46.835	0.260
4	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'46.878	0.303
5	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'46.999	0.424
6	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'47.050	0.475
7	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'47.152	0.577
8	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'47.167	0.592
9	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'47.266	0.691
10	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'47.282	0.707
11	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'47.319	0.744
12	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'47.475	0.900

Q1 results:

Pos.	#	Driver	Bike	Time	Gap
1	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'47.058
2	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'47.141	0.083
3	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'47.220	0.162
4	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'47.272	0.214
5	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1'47.305	0.247
6	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'47.625	0.567
7	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'47.809	0.751
8	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'47.940	0.882
9	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'47.961	0.903
10	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'47.975	0.917
11	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'48.361	1.303
12	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'48.416	1.358
13	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'48.594	1.536
14	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	1'48.892	1.834